Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1940)

May 4, 1940 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Page 13 pERHAPS the most significant aspect in con■^neclion with "Saturday's Children" is the fact that John Garfield has a role different from any he has ever enacted during his screen career. According to the publicity, "Garfield laughs," and that will be welcome news to moviegoers. The picture also has a story that's bound to "hit home," for it concerns the struggles of a young couple during their first year of married life. Besides an intriguing title, there are four names which should be responsible for much activity at the box office — John Garfield, Anne Shirley, Claude Rains and Roscoe Karns. It looks as though the meat of your campaign will be stunts designed to appeal to newlyweds. Don't think, however, that it ends there, because unmarried folk and parents will be just as concerned about the problems of the story's young couple — unmarried folk because it will give them food for thought if they're considering marriage, and parents because they have their sons' and daughters' marital problems at heart. For your teaser advertising, you might pose a series of questions : "Can two be as happy as one on $20 a week? — See 'Saturday's Children'." "Would you get married on $20 a week? — See 'Saturday's Children'." If you look at the smart, bright ads the Warner Bros, publicity department has prepared, you'll find many other questions, and angles, which can be utilized in teaser layouts. "Were You Born on Saf'urday?" At almost any novelty company you can obtain a hundred-year calendar with which you can determine on what day of the week you, or anyone else, were born. Set up a table in the lobby, with an attractive girl in attendance. A sign bears copy that "if you are one of 'Saturday's Children' you'll receive a guest ticket to see, etc." The girl could ask patrons when they were born, and by consulting the ■ calendar could determine whether or not they would be entitled to guest tickets. You could stage this stunt in cooperation with a local department store or some other business establishment. One of the best build-ups for the picture is a budget contest to run three days in the newspaper. On the first day, unmarried people answer the question, "Would you get married on $20 a week?" On the second day, the question to be answered by married people is "How would you budget a $20 weekly income?" And on the third, parents are asked "Would you allow your daughter (or son) to get married on a $20 weekly income?" Guest tickets could be awarded winners each day, or if at all possible it would be best to present a crisp new $20 bill to the winner in each classification. You might make the $20 a grand prize. If you can obtain "stage money" consisting of $20 bills, these could be distributed. Perhaps this copy would do : "Lots of young l)eople get married on $20 weekly ... at least John Garfield and Anne Shirley do in 'Saturday's Children' and they've got a million in love . . . you'll have 6,120 seconds of joy when you see how they do it at the Blank Theatre." Perhaps a new show never starts on Saturday at your theatre. Well, this would be a good time to make an exception to that rule. And you could make it an unusual event, too. Loosen Your Budget to Exploit This Comedy-Drama About Two Young People Living on a Budget A deserving young couple, for example, who are planning to be married could be given the opportunity to be "merged" in a public wedding on your stage on opening day, with merchants cooperating to provide them with all the necessaries to start housekeeping. The newspaper will have to be in on it, too, so that the event will be well publicized. Besides running cooperative ads, the merchants can use tie-up displays in their windows. Keep in touch with the society editor to learn the identities of newlyweds and send them invitations to be your guests at certain evening performances of "Saturday's Children." Knowledge of these couples can also be obtained by contacting social clubs, churches. Either handbills, blotters, or card rules could be distributed to oftice workers, inasmuch as the picture deals with two office workers who got married. Copy should hinge on that angle. Get Bonk to Cooperate It isn't often that you have a chance to enlist the cooperation of the local bank, but this time you have a logical excuse. Perhaps you can arrange to have displays placed in the window or in a prominent place inside the bank, emphasizing the fact that "everybody, whether married or single, should put aside a certain amount each week for a 'rainy' day," and that "if you want to see how a young couple budgeted themselves on $20 weekly, see 'Saturdaj's Children'." In stores where budget banks are sold, tie-up displays could be used. Every Sunday night over the blue network Screenplay by Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein. Based on the Pulitzer Prize Play by Maxwell Anderson; Directed by Vincent Sherman. Associate producer, Henry Blanke. of the National Broadcasting Co., the "Good Will Hour" program is broadcast from 10 to 11 p.m., E.D.T. If your local station "airs" this program, or if it carries any other dealing with marital problems, try to get spot announcements following the broadcast. There's good copy for this purpose in the press book. That old gag of photographing people on the street then circhng certain persons and publishing the picture in the newspaper, offering a free ticket to the person circled, is still eft'ective ; but this time you can snap young couples wherever they may happen to be, with pictures of them, circled, appearing in the newspaper. Those entitled to tickets could identify themselves at the theatre or at the newspaper office. Get one of the stills showing Claude Rains and Anne Shirley, who play father and daughter in the picture. Use it as a basis for a typical father-daughter photo contest, displaying the best photos in jour lobby or in the window of a cooperating photographer. Similarly, a sweetheart photo contest could also be held. Distribute heralds printed along the lines of a wedding invitation, calling attention to the wedding in the picture. Heralds might also be made up in the form of marriage licenses, with "Warning . . . See 'Saturday's Children' first !" overprinted in red. In deference to those who have to w'ork late on Saturday night, you could arrange a special midnight showing, announcing that it's especially for those who can't get to the theatre during the day. See that the announcement reaches all those working on Saturday. Address envelopes to "Saturday's Children." Opportunity for Tieups ' Don't forget that, inasmuch as "Saturday's Children" deals with the domestic scene, tieups can be made with stores selling electric mixers, electric ranges, refrigerators, waffle irons, kitchen utensils and other household conveniences. Of course, the couple in the picture don't have all these conveniences, but it's still a good plug for the picture, using the angle that "you don't have to be a millionaire to enjoy the convenience of a Blank refrigerator . . . just a few pennies a day will keep it in your home." You might also get a department store to feature "low-budgeted dresses for the thrifty housewife." As a matter of fact, a number of stores might be persuaded to go in on a cooperative page or double-truck, advertising values for "those married or planning to marry." Real gingham might be used as the background for your lobby frames, and the material might be pasted o\ er cut-out letters of the title. The illustration on the 24-sheet will serve admirably as the centerpiece for a lobby display or as a cutout for the marquee. Here are views of John Garfield in the characterizations of several of his past films, proving that for the first tirne Garfield laughs in "Saturday's Children." Using the cut to be found in the press book, get newspaper readers to identify the productions represented by the poses, tickets going to winners. Get the stills and nnake them part of a lobby display on the "Garfield laughs" angle.